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Starter Guide (CivBE)
Civilization: Beyond Earth Starter Guide Starting a new game Starting a new game in Civilization: Beyond Earth first involves what developers have named the seeded start. The Seeded Start In traditional Civilization your first choice is between specifically defined civilizations with fixed traits. The aim for Civilization: Beyond Earth is instead for players to do their own 'seeding' of their civilization, rooted in the rationale that, if an expedition was to leave earth, to colonize an alien world, it would have to make certain decisions on what to 'pack' for such an interstellar endeavour. In Beyond Earth this 'seeded start' (build your own civ approach) involves making choices in 5 categories (note you can randomize all 5 if you want to): * Designate Sponsor * Choose Colonists * Choose Spacecraft * Choose Cargo * Choose Planet Designate Sponsor Here you will choose between eight factions each with their own leader and benefits. # the ARC or American Reclamation Corporation, with their leader CEO Suzanne Fielding. # the Pan Asian Cooperative, with leader Daoming Sochua. # Franco-Iberia, with leader Élodie. # Slavic Federation, with leader Vadim Kozlov. # Polystralia, with leader Hutama. # Kavithan Protectorate, with leader Kavitha Thakur. # Brasilia, with leader Rejinaldo Bolivar. # People's African Union, with leader Samatar Jama Barre. ARC has the associated benefits: "Covert Operations are 25 % faster and cause 25 % more intrigue" (Civ:BE). So this means you can steal units, techs, etc. (see Covert Operations) faster, and with increasing intrigue the enemy cities become that much more vulnerable to future Ops. If you like the sneaky aggressive James Bond approach, this faction is for you. PAC (Pan Asian Cooperation) is what you could call 'Space Egypt' if you have played the Civ series, as they have a bonus to wonder-production and worker improvement speed: "10 % production towards Wonders and 25 % Worker speed" (Civ:BE). This means they will have greater chance of completing wonders, obviously, but also that workers will boost tile yield that much faster, and be able to move "out of the way" of for instance marauding aliens, in early gameplay. Franco-Iberia is very much the culture faction, clearly Francofile descendants. They have a synergy with science though as they: "Gain a free Technology for every 10 Virtues developed" (Civ:BE). So a strategy here might be heavy investment in knowledge virtues. If you like playing a culture game pick them. The Slavic Federation have the edge in space, which is reflected in that: "Orbital units stay in orbit 20% longer. The first orbital unit launched grants a free Technology". This is important if you are lucky enough, or rich enough, to find/buy a satellite and launch it early on, your civ will be boosted by that free tech. Further the extended orbit time, means that they are superior in controlling the Orbital Layer, which will be extremely powerful if used wisely. The Trade system has the potential to boost all areas of a civ, and here Polystralia excels with: "+2 Trade Routes available for the Capital". This means they get more trade in than others, and have that freedom to do the best routes. As the knowledgeable Pete Murray stated: "...not quite Venice, but almost...". So if you are a commerce player try Hutama's Polystralia. For an expansive player the Kavithan Protectorate might be the way to go. Their bonus is: "Cities and Outposts acquire new tiles twice as fast". In Civ:BE you gain new cities by first sending out a colonist to found an outpost, which then slowly grows into a city when it grabs a full circle of the innermost tiles (estimated 10-15turns). This means that outposts are fragile and needs protection until it 'grows up'. With KP, this period is very short, and thus frees up your resources that much faster, making further expansion possible. Further Cities grab those far tiles much faster. Brasilia's: "Units have a +10% Strength in melee combat", seems rather straightforward. They are good for a militant game. Guns work. PAU (People's African Union) is the last sponsor choice. They have the: "+10% Food in growing cities when Healthy" bonus. This might seem to be a double-edge sword so to speak, as they will reach the "health-cap" much faster, thus nullifying the bonus. But it is also a highly resilient faction. In tough terrain like desert or tundra, they deal much better with scarce food sources, where others start to struggle. They grow fast so you often should push health-tech. So choosing PAU is a balancing game. Choose Colonists Choose Spacecraft The colonization of an alien world would necessarily require some sort of orbiter and an attached landing vessel (taken together a Spacecraft). This craft would obviously have been designed in pre-mission, and a decision on its functions and design would have been made. The 'Choose Spacecraft' screen reflects that choice. Our options here are: The first one, Continental Surveyor, reveals the entire coastline of the planet. This is hugely powerful, especially on an archipilegean map, as it allows you to see all the islands and landmasses, so you will know if you need to go for 'Planetary Survey '''for the ability embarkation fast, and you will have a good idea of where the juicy land is, so you can go straight there. Secondly we can go with Retrograde Thrusters. If you have ever played Civ V you will know of the "do you move your settler?"-debate, this feature removes that issue as you get a much larger area to land in. Furthermore it gives you 6 hexes visibility around your capital, so in this way your capital AND your first few outposts get the best resources possible. The third option is handy because it immediately shows if you will have access to those important strategic resources, and can then prioritize researching the tech that lets you extract them. Otherwise you could waste Science on tech you can't use. The Fusion Reactor option is just a straight-up Energy boost. The last option lets you assess the alien-presence right off the bat, so you can prioritize defense if you need to, and maybe decide on an affinity to counter them when they show up. Choose Cargo An interstellar expedition such as 'The Seeding' would of course have been able to make a decision on what cargo to bring for this daring colonization-mission. That is reflected in our fourth screen: The Hydroponics is nice because it lets you work that extra tile right away for that extra Production, growth or Energy. In Civ:BE you start without the ability to build new cities. This requires the Pioneering tech, that the Laboratory choice grants, which also opens the trade system with the Trade Depot and the ''Trade Convoy. So this is an important, though cheap, tech, that you will need at some point. The Raw Materials option grants you the safe choice of a building with a known benefit: +1 Science, +1 Health. A bonus you can always use. The Weapon Arsenal: another safe choice that could help if you intend to combat the aliens. The planet may be dangerous, and guns work. The last choice of a Worker unit can be a powerplay opening, but is also quite a gamble if he is grabbed by aliens. For this reason it is good to pair it with the Lifeform Sensor, so you will know to keep your Worker away from danger. Choose Planet Lastly space-travel must have a clear, well-defined destination. Colonization of humans demands a certain list 'habitable' conditions to be met. Here we choose exactly what planet to aim our expedition at: (note that via the Advanced Setup in the upper right-hand corner, you have even more map types, the biom choice etc. etc.). A fun fact about this screen is that the planets are named after the dev-team members. (observe that we have the Advanced Worlds option in the bottom, that gives you the option of, for instance, a tilted axis world with assymetric climate etc.) Interface Here we will take you trough those different screens that you will encounter at your first turn of the. First you will of course have to do your seeded start, and you will then see the screens we describe here. The following gameplay images are from the Firaxis Twitch-channel on http://www.twitch.tv/firaxisgames/c/4957771 . In this game they have chosen this setup of a seeded start: Landing screen bla. The map screen bla. The city screen bla. The tech web bla.